Joseph Galloway: The Founder Who Chose the King

Joseph Galloway arrived at the First Continental Congress in September 1774 as one of Pennsylvania's most respected political figures. He left it having proposed a plan that would have preserved colonial union with Britain under a reformed constitutional framework. The plan failed by one vote. Within two years he had joined the British. The proceedings of September 28, 1774 and the vote of October 22, 1774 are in the Journals of the Continental Congress at the Library of Congress, Volumes 1 and 2.

Galloway presented his Plan of Union to the Continental Congress on September 28, 1774. The plan proposed the creation of an American Grand Council, elected by the colonial assemblies, which would serve as a branch of the British Parliament for North American affairs. All legislation affecting the colonies would require consent from both the British Parliament and the Grand Council. The plan was a constitutional settlement, not a submission. It preserved colonial self-government while maintaining the imperial connection.

The Congress voted on the Plan of Union on October 22, 1774. It failed six colonies to five. The delegates then voted to expunge it from the record entirely. Galloway later described the vote as the moment he understood that reconciliation was no longer the goal of the Congress. He did not return to the Second Continental Congress. He spent 1775 and early 1776 in Pennsylvania, watching the situation deteriorate. When British forces occupied Philadelphia in September 1777 he offered his services to General Howe.

During the British occupation of Philadelphia, Galloway served as Superintendent General of Police. He organized Loyalist civilian administration, gathered intelligence on Patriot activity, and advised General Howe on the political landscape of Pennsylvania. His detailed reports on colonial opinion, on which Pennsylvanians could be trusted, and on the logistical situation of the Continental Army made him one of the most informed political analysts in the British command.

When the British evacuated Philadelphia in June 1778, Galloway went with them to New York. He could not return to Pennsylvania; the state had attainted him for treason and confiscated his properties. He sailed for England in 1778 and spent the remainder of his life in London and Kent, writing pamphlets, testifying before Parliament, and arguing that the war had been mismanaged and could have been won.

Galloway testified before the House of Commons in 1779 and 1780 on the conduct of the American war. He argued that a larger investment in organizing Loyalist forces and a more aggressive political strategy could have isolated the Patriot leadership from the population. His testimony was published as The Examination of Joseph Galloway, Esq., Late Speaker of the House of Assembly of Pennsylvania, Before the House of Commons in a Committee on the American Papers, 1779. It is at the Library of Congress Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

Galloway died in Watford, England, in 1803. He had spent twenty-five years in exile, outliving the war, the peace treaty, and most of the men who had voted down his plan in 1774. His properties in Pennsylvania were never restored. His plan, which would have required consent from both Parliament and an American Grand Council for all colonial legislation, is one of the closest things to a constitutional alternative to independence that survives in the primary source record.